


In Heaven Brighter

by dawnishere



Series: Heith Week 2k17 (July) [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Future Fic, I'm Sorry, M/M, There's some description of a dead body but it's not horribly graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 19:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11515944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawnishere/pseuds/dawnishere
Summary: They defeat the Galra empire once and for all, but not without consequences.Heith Week Day 2: Gain/Loss





	In Heaven Brighter

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry, in advance. If you're uncomfortable with descriptions of dead bodies and injuries, I implore you not to read this. The descriptions themselves are somewhat graphic. Everyone else, enjoy. If you'd still like to read a fic that fills today's prompt, I have an alternate fic that's much more lighthearted [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11516223)
> 
> The title comes from Walt Whitman's "Dirge for Two Veterans"
> 
> This is a future fic because we haven't quite gotten over the tension between Keith and Allura. Here, I'm pretending that we've reached like, peak everyone-is-totally-cool-with-everyone-else.

They had his funeral on Arus. It seemed fitting to Hunk; it was where it all really started. The wormhole to the planet seemed to take quintents, not the mere dobashes it actually took, but then, that was fitting too.

 

Shiro had been silent since they'd arrived in the hangar. It was a disturbing shift from the eardrum-shattering yell they'd all witnessed after the Red Lion had been ripped from Voltron. In some ways, it was even worse than his soundless sobbing after they'd retrieved the broken form of their friend from open space, after they'd defeated the last Galra force in the universe. Upon stepping onto the bridge, Shiro sat in his chair and looked out of the observation glass of the ship, unseeing eyes cast into the black. Allura was trying her best to set his mind on something else, but she was too wrapped up in her own grief to do a proper job of it. Who could blame her? Hunk could feel her eyes on him, but he avoided looking at either of them, afraid of what he might find there. 

 

Lance didn’t even come back to the bridge. He'd taken off after Pidge. She hadn’t stopped crying and being around so many other people didn’t comfort her as much as she wanted. Instead, Pidge had retreated, followed by Lance, who looked equally as haunted as Shiro. Hunk hadn't gone after them. He couldn't stand to see the pity in their eyes; the wound was too fresh, too deep. 

 

As soon as they landed planetside, Hunk rushed off the bridge, heading to the landing bay. He didn’t wait for the others to follow. They would come at their own pace. He needed a moment to himself anyway.

 

They arrived on Arus to a parade worthy of Lance's wildest dreams. It would be easy to think that the Arusians knew: that the Galran empire was no more, that grave sacrifices had been made to secure the future of a freed universe. It was just wishful thinking. They didn't know. How could they be so happy if they knew? 

 

It had somehow fallen to him to explain the purpose of their visit. The Arusian king had asked, innocently enough, where the red paladin was, as he didn't see him among them. Shiro was still in the castle, having not even moved from his chair on the bridge, and Allura and Coran looked too wrecked to speak, so it fell to him.

 

"That's actually why we're here," Hunk said, his voice surprisingly steady. "The red paladin--Keith," he corrected himself softly, " gave his life to secure a universe free of the Galra empire. He deserves a hero’s send-off. We’d like to…hold it here, among a people who loved him.” 

 

A hushed whisper swept through the Arusian crowd, and a long moment passed before one of the Arusians stepped forward to stand next to their king. They looked vaguely familiar and for a tick, he couldn’t remember if they’d met before. Eventually, Hunk placed them as that young alien who’d clutched to Keith so long ago, one of the only people he’d let hug him. They said: “It is an honor to give paladin Keith his Final Trip.” The Arusians behind them let out a synchronized wail in approval and even the King, who looked as though he may cry, joined in. Hunk felt pinpricks in the back of his eyes but he swallowed dryly until they subsided, stepping forward to shake their appendages and give them thanks, on behalf of them all.

* * *

They would have it tomorrow; today, Hunk and the others retreated inside the castle. The Arusians returned to their village, the wailing chorus of their mourning voices fading into the distance.

 

Hunk tried to avoid his friends and their scrutinizing gaze, and he found himself quietly entering the cryopod chamber. It was dead silent inside, empty all except for himself. Keith was suspended in his pod and for a moment, Hunk could pretend he was just sleeping, recovering, even. The slackened face and unnaturally-bent limbs were too jarring to maintain the illusion, however, and Hunk took a seat against the control panel, facing away from the cryopod.

 

That was where Allura found him, hours later. She said nothing, though she clearly longed to speak, as she nearly tripped over his unmoving form and took a careful seat next to him. 

 

“He used to joke that he wanted to be cremated,” Hunk mumbled after a few dobashes, then looked shocked to hear his own voice. Allura looked up at him, expression open but neutral. Her wide eyes looked watery. 

 

“He…quiznak, I don’t think I’ve had a serious conversation with him about dying. He always framed it as ‘if’, like we had all the time in the universe,” his voice cracked. He’d always been the more anxious of the two of them, and it sometimes became a contentious point. It was hard thinking of all the stupid fights they’d had, disagreements that seemed so trivial now that they’d never have another…

 

“Do you think that’s what he’d want? A pyre instead of a burial?” Allura asked quietly, and Hunk was drawn out of his thoughts. She placed a light hand over Hunk’s forearm, careful not to exert any pressure. At Hunk’s answering silence, she added: “You know, the Galra used to cremate their dead, before Zarkon began his conquest of the universe. It was a symbol of freedom in death, for them. A life among the stars for eternity.”

 

“Keith would have liked that. He…he didn’t like to talk about his life on Earth much, but I know living alone in the desert for so long changed something in him. He…” _he used to wake up from nightmares of being buried alive in sand for a long time._ He couldn’t finish. A few tears slipped out of the corners of his eyes, and he wiped them away forcefully. “How did—how do Alteans mourn their dead?” He turned red-rimmed eyes toward the Princess, who inhaled shakily at the question. 

 

“We…we buried our dead. Our bone densities are such that a pyre would burn for a very long time. As I remember it, we were very conscious of air pollution and didn’t want to contribute to it in any way.” She murmured. A stretch of silence followed as Hunk considered her words. Allura cleared her throat lightly. “You are not to blame. He would want you to know that, I’m sure.”

 

“I know,” he said curtly, before leveling an apologetic expression at the Princess. He shouldn’t take out his jumbled-up mess of emotions on a friend. “But it doesn’t make me miss him any less. I…I wish I’d gotten more time. There’s so much I didn’t get to say.” Hunk could feel his eyes welling up with tears again, but he didn’t bother wiping them away. He drew a shaky breath. “How can any number of _I love you_ s be enough when I can never say it to him again?” A low cry came from Allura’s throat and she pulled her friend into a hug. Her own tearstained face dripped onto Hunk’s sleeve as the man cried openly for the first time since Keith died. She rubbed circles on his back as he hiccupped through a sob. She looked over his shoulder, at the still, lifeless body in the cryopod as she contemplated her next words.

 

“It’s never enough,” Allura said, finally, in a subdued tone, recalling the moment she'd learned about Alfor’s death. “But you can’t keep thinking in those terms; you have to remember it was enough for him. He died knowing you loved him.” She hugged Hunk tighter. “I know he knew how much you loved him, and he reciprocated just as much. Keith was great at a lot of things but he was rather awful at hiding his feelings,” Allura giggled wetly. 

 

“He was, wasn’t he?” Hunk chuckled too, a small burst of laughter that ended as unexpectedly as it’d started. He swept his arm across his face, wiping away the sweat, snot, and tears there. He steeled himself before turning to cast a look at Keith’s body. It— _he_ floated aimlessly in the pod, preserved.

 

“I wish I could have heard him speak once last time,” Hunk admitted softly to the Princess. 

 

Allura hesitated. “…There is a way…” She looked out at the room, avoiding Hunk’s eyes. “But I don’t know if you will want to do it.” 

 

Hunk scrutinized his friend, her form tensing up against…anger? Rejection? “You mean, if we preserve his memory as AI,” he said slowly, realization dawning on his face. It was tempting. Seeing Keith once more, speaking to him, telling him that _we did it, we won._

 

It wouldn’t be the same, however. He knew it, loathe as he was to admit it. He couldn’t kiss his dead lover as an AI; his memory would be nothing more than a computer program. More than that, Keith would never want his memory to keep Hunk from moving on, and Hunk knew himself well enough to admit that’s exactly what would happen if he went through with Allura’s well-meaning suggestion.

 

“You’re right; I don’t want to go to that length.” Hunk smiled brokenly at Allura. “Thank you for giving me a chance to consider it.”

 

“Of course,” Allura looked aghast at the possibility that she’d do otherwise. “You’re one of the closest things he had to family; it’d be an insult to go ahead without your consent.”

 

“You’re wrong,” Hunk corrected immediately. “We were all his family. He considered all of us his family, near the end. He was just bad at showing it sometimes.” Allura’s posture softened, and tears cascaded down her ethereal brown face as she gave him a close-mouthed smile. 

 

She wiped her eyes and stood up, offering a hand to Hunk, who took it. Once they were both upright, she cleared her throat. “Let us honor our paladin as he deserves, then. If we’re give Keith the funeral he’d want, there is preparation to be done. We have quite a bit of planning to do, and not a lot of time in which to do it.” Hunk saw right through her ploy at distracting him for the time being with tasks, but he appreciated it nonetheless. 

 

“Yes,” he murmured, casting one last look at Keith as he and the Princess stepped out of the room. “He deserves nothing less.” He let Allura lead him to his suite and hugged her back when she deposited him in front of his door. She floated away and Hunk trudged into his room.

 

_(It seemed gapingly huge, now that it was just him.)_

 

Tomorrow, he decided, shucking off his clothes and preparing for bed, he’d give a speech to make even the most stoic of Galra cry. He’d talk about how Keith loved to spar and collect knives, his habit of making shitty jokes despite his characteristic stolidity. He'd try not to not cry too much as he described Keith's determination to eat Hunk’s cooking even when it got weird. He’d mention his faith in people, in their goodness, even in the most unexpected of beings. Tomorrow, he’d stand by his team, his family, and lay his long-gone lover to rest. 

 

But that was tomorrow. Tonight, he would dream of their first kiss, unhurried and slow in the shadow of their Lions, of Keith’s soft smile when he thought no one was looking. Tonight, he would mourn as privately as he could, before he had to share his grief with the rest of the universe.

**Author's Note:**

> A callout post for myself: I write too much of Hunk-being-comforted-by-other-people
> 
> If you're on tumblr, drop me a [line](hunkul3s.tumblr.com)


End file.
